PRECEDENT : Draco Malfoy II

37

            "Expecto Patronum," my wand moves, light whisps coming out the tip of the wand but not a full corporeal Patronus.

The memory isn't good enough. I was thinking about my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. How the paper felt between my fingers, how proud my mother was, how my father seemed excited, before he really got to know what wizards were and what future awaited me. How Professor McGonagall explained it to them in words as easy as she could make them. I remember my brothers were home and found out, and how suspicious Alfred was and how Aaron and I played with sticks pretending they were wands in the yard. I remember we went out for a fancy dinner and then we made a blanket fort in the living room. I fell asleep inside it, and Da wasn't even mad about the mess in the morning.

It doesn't work.

I've tried the dance I did with Anthony in the choir room after helping Michael put together his music box. I've tried touring London with Terry, and I've tried a thousand other things. Luna is here though, and it's hard for me to try memories with Draco without incurring a look from her.

"It'll be harder when you're actually facing one," Harry reminds us.

Facing a dementor would seem impossible if Harry hadn't done it this summer. At least this time, I'm not the only one struggling to create a Patronus. Hermione has an otter swimming in the air around her.

I close my eyes.

Draco and I, the moon reflecting off the water, more circular and open then his eyes that are slit like crescent moons, and his warm hand in mine. The soft feeling of snow beneath our feet and the depths of the lake and the future laid out before us. Just us.

I exhale. It comes. The flash of wispy blue and silver light materializes. Something is happening at the other side of the room, the door opening, but I don't pay attention to it. I watch the creature materialize before me, into a full shape.

It's a phoenix. A magical Patronus, rare in and of itself. A creature that is doomed to die and live and die again. A broken lifeline on my hand. Two separately, only together at the end.

The phoenix lands on the ground. It quirks its head at me. A feather on its body falls to the ground, a wisp of light too. I kneel it front of it, leaning forward. The creature shuffles. I reach my hand forward. It's beady eyes stare at me.

The phoenix takes off. I flinch back, even though the creature is non-corporeal. It slams into the ceiling, disappearing it and the feather alike.

I turn around to look at the others, but they are all staring at a house-elf banging its head off the ground.

"What are you waiting for?" Harry screeches. "Run!"

People start to bolt, and the only thing that I can think of is that we've been discovered. I scramble out of the room. We have ten minutes to get to our Common Room before it is after hours, and we were supposed to go home in an hour. It's risky, but knowing that people are probably coming for us is just as terrifying.

Luna runs up to me and takes my hand. I was headed to the muggle studies room, potentially going to hide in one of Professor Burbage's closets filled with muggle art and music, and while those are technically cancelled clubs, I doubt it would have the particular problems of a group called an army. My feet are slamming off the floor footsteps loud, and if I were more clever maybe I would walk. Luna seems to know where she is going.

She rounds a corner, and I realize we are chasing Padma, Terry, Anthony, and Michael. Michael flourishes his wand, and a door cracks open. He slips inside the door, grabbing Padma and pulling her in. Terry joins them and Anthony holds it open. Luna runs us toward him. She collides into him and he yanks us into the room. The door shuts behind us.